The Channel99 Team-Building Playbook: Different Teams for Different Growth Stages

Building the right team isn’t just about hiring great people—it’s about having the right people for your current stage of growth. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Chris Golec shared hard-earned insights about team evolution from his experience building multiple B2B companies, including Demandbase and now Channel99.

The Growth Stage Paradox

The uncomfortable truth about startup team building? As Chris explains, “The team that you bring on kind of that one to 10 million is probably different than that 10 million to 100 million. Different passions, different skill sets.” This reality creates a challenging dynamic for founders who must balance loyalty with company needs.

The key insight isn’t just that different stages require different skills. It’s that some people are genuinely better suited to—and more passionate about—particular growth stages. “Some people absolutely scale from one kind of phase to the next, but a lot don’t and a lot prefer to be in that early stage.”

The Early Stage Team at Channel99

Currently leading a team of ten at Channel99, Chris is once again experiencing the unique dynamics of early-stage team building. “It’s very intimate. We can build the culture we want to.” This intimacy creates opportunities but also challenges, especially in a remote-first world.

The transition from early stage to scale presents unique challenges. As Chris notes from his Demandbase experience, reaching the first $100 million required different leadership skills. Speaking about his own transition, he shares: “Our CRO, Gabe, who just did an amazing job, kind of building out the sales team, the efficiency, incredibly good in operations. He was ready to do the CEO gig, and I was kind of getting a little squirmy around, wanting to innovate faster.”

Remote Work’s Impact on Team Development

The current business environment adds another layer of complexity to team building. Chris observes, “It’s really hard to build a great company, virtually, and kind of build that culture.” His solution at Channel99 involves finding a middle ground: “I’m hoping that in the near future, we’re able to be in an office together, not necessarily five days a week, but certainly a lot more than we are now.”

This is particularly important for certain roles. “I often find that SDR teams that are really distributed, they’re also missing out one of the best times of their professional career,” Chris notes. “So many of your best friends and your best times are going to come from the people you work with.”

The Multi-Office Strategy

Rather than forcing everyone into a single location, Chris is considering a distributed approach for Channel99: “Maybe instead of having one big HQ, you have distributed offices where you might have an engineering team here, an SDR team in a different location.”

This strategy acknowledges both the reality of modern work and the specific needs of different teams. For example, Chris believes some functions benefit more from in-person collaboration: “Those organizations learn so much from each other. And I often find that SDR teams that are really distributed, they’re also missing out.”

Managing Team Transitions

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of stage-based team building is managing transitions. Chris emphasizes the importance of transparency: “You just got to be transparent and be open with conversations about that.” This becomes particularly difficult because “it’s hard when you’re early because it’s family like, right. People are your friends.”

Building for the Future

Channel99’s current approach to team building reflects these lessons. Starting with a small, tight-knit team of ten, they’re already thinking about how to scale effectively while maintaining culture. This includes:

• Being intentional about which roles need in-person collaboration
• Planning for distributed offices based on team function
• Maintaining transparency about growth and change
• Balancing innovation with operational excellence

The key is recognizing that team building isn’t a one-time exercise—it’s an ongoing process that evolves with your company’s growth stages. As Chris demonstrates at Channel99, success comes from being honest about these realities while still building strong, effective teams at each stage of growth.